A different kind of holiday tribute with 'Always ... Patsy Cline' at North Coast Rep

It’s been 30 years now since “Always … Patsy Cline” was first produced, which means that the show now has been around as long as its famous country-music namesake was alive.

That doesn’t surprise Katie Karel, who plays the much-loved singer in North Coast Rep’s upcoming production of the song-filled play.

“It keeps living, and that’s really because her music is timeless,” says Karel of the artist whose recordings of such songs as “Crazy” and “I Fall to Pieces” still haunt, charm and enchant.

Karel, who’s based in Kansas City but has appeared in two previous shows at NCRT since 2016, has also played Cline in “Always” several times before.

And “I’ve always been a big fan of hers, even before I got to do this show,” she says. “I’m just a fan of old country music in general, and old rock ’n’ roll, too.

“It’s not the only type of music I like to sing, but it’s the type of music I like to listen to. And Patsy is just such a soulful and unique performer.”

“Always,” directed for NCRT by Allegra Libonati, is based on the true story of the bond between the Virginia-born Cline and a fan-turned-friend named Louise Seger. The two met at a gig in 1961— two years before Cline died in a plane crash in Tennessee.

“The show is essentially Louise and her storytelling — both about her life and her meeting Patsy,” says Karel. “And a little about Patsy’s life, but not in great detail.”

Instead, Cline’s presence in the show (which was created by Ted Swindley, with additional material by Ellis Nassour) comes mostly through performances of the songs, of which more than 20 are included.

Cathy Barnett plays Louise — a role she has stepped into dozens of times at theaters all over the country. Karel says Barnett has poured herself so deeply into the character that “to think she's anyone other than Louise is hard to even imagine.”

When it comes to the songs, picking favorites is tough, says Karel.

“A song could be so simple, but she transcended it by just the sheer emotion of her voice,” Karel says of Cline.

But “there are a couple of songs where people just gasp at hearing the (first) chords or words.”

Those include the two big ones, “Crazy” and “I Fall to Pieces”; Karel also names “You Belong to Me,” which isn’t heard quite so often.

“I'm not doing a vocal impersonation of Patsy,” she adds. “I don't think I ever could, or many people really can.”

Instead, Karel says, the best way to pay tribute to Cline is “to do the songs emotional justice — the way she did.”